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November 2007

A gifted poet, a women's rights activist, and an expert on moral and natural philosophy, Lucrezia Marinella (1571-1653) was known throughout Italy as the leading female intellectual of her age. Born into a family of Venetian physicians, she was encouraged to study, and, fortunately, she did not share the fate of many of her female contemporaries, who were forced to join convents or were pressured to marry early. Marinella enjoyed a long literary career, writing mainly religious, epic, and pastoral poetry, and biographies of famous women in both verse and prose.

Marinella's masterpiece, The Nobility and Excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of Men was first published in 1600, composed at a furious pace in answer to Giusepe Passi's diatribe about women's alleged defects. This polemic displays Marinella's vast knowledge of the Italian poetic tradition and demonstrates her ability to argue against authors of the misogynist tradition from Boccaccio to Torquato Tasso. Trying to effect real social change, Marinella argued that morally, intellectually, and in many other ways, women are superior to men.

Introduction to the Series by Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil Jr.AcknowledgmentsIntroduction to the Translation by Letizia Panizza with Anne DunhillThe Nobility and Excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of MenPart I: The Nobility and Excellence of WomenChapter 1: On the Nobility of the Names Given to the Female SexChapter 2: The Causes That Produce WomenChapter 3: Of the Nature and Essence of the Female SexChapter 4: The Reasons for Men's Noble Treatment of Women and the Things They Say about WomenChapter 5: Of Women's Noble Actions and Virtues, Which Greatly Surpass Men's, as Will Be Proved by Reasoning and ExampleChapter 6: A Reply to the Flippant and Vain Reasoning Adopted by Men in Their Own Favor

Part II: The Defects and Vices of MenChapter 4: Of Wrathful, Eccentric, and Brutal MenChapter 12: Of Obstinate and Pertinacious MenChapter 13: Of Ungrateful and Discourteous MenChapter 14: Of Fickle, Inconstant MenChapter 15: Of Evil Men Who Hate Others EasilyChapter 22: Of Men Who Are Ornate, Polished, Painted, and BleachedChapter 30: Of Men Who Kill Their Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, and GrandchildrenBibliographyIndex

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